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Borinage

 

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Borinage



 
 
The Borinage is an area in the Belgian
Belgium

* A small German-speaking Community of Belgium exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political and cultural conflicts are reflected in the history of Belgium and a complex Communities and regions of Belgium....
 province of Hainaut. The provincial capital Mons
Mons

Mons is a Walloon Region city and Municipalities in Belgium located in the Belgium Provinces of Belgium of Hainaut , of which it is the capital....
 is located in the east of the Borinage.

The area is best known for its former coalmining industry. The living conditions of the miners were featured in the famous documentary film
Documentary film

Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to "document" reality. Although "documentary film" originally referred to movies shot on film stock, it has subsequently expanded to include video and new media productions that can be either direct-to-video or made for a televis...
 Misère au Borinage (1933) made by Henri Storck
Henri Storck

Henri Storck was a Belgium author, film-maker and documentarist.In 1933, he directed, with Joris Ivens, Mis?re au Borinage, a film about the miners in the Borinage area....
 and Joris Ivens
Joris Ivens

Joris Ivens was a Dutch documentary filmmaker and devout communist....
.

In his mid-twenties, the Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh

Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch people Post-Impressionism artist. Some of his paintings are now among the world's best known, most popular and expensive works of art....
 spent several years living there, ca.






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Encyclopedia


The Borinage is an area in the Belgian
Belgium

* A small German-speaking Community of Belgium exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political and cultural conflicts are reflected in the history of Belgium and a complex Communities and regions of Belgium....
 province of Hainaut. The provincial capital Mons
Mons

Mons is a Walloon Region city and Municipalities in Belgium located in the Belgium Provinces of Belgium of Hainaut , of which it is the capital....
 is located in the east of the Borinage.

The area is best known for its former coalmining industry. The living conditions of the miners were featured in the famous documentary film
Documentary film

Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to "document" reality. Although "documentary film" originally referred to movies shot on film stock, it has subsequently expanded to include video and new media productions that can be either direct-to-video or made for a televis...
 Misère au Borinage (1933) made by Henri Storck
Henri Storck

Henri Storck was a Belgium author, film-maker and documentarist.In 1933, he directed, with Joris Ivens, Mis?re au Borinage, a film about the miners in the Borinage area....
 and Joris Ivens
Joris Ivens

Joris Ivens was a Dutch documentary filmmaker and devout communist....
.

In his mid-twenties, the Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh

Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch people Post-Impressionism artist. Some of his paintings are now among the world's best known, most popular and expensive works of art....
 spent several years living there, ca. 1878-1880. First he preached to and lived with the coal miners. Then he had a breakdown and decided to become an artist, while living there. His first masterpiece, The Potato Eaters
The Potato Eaters

The Potato Eaters is a painting by the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh that he painted in April 1885 while in Nuenen, Netherlands. It is housed in the Van Gogh Museum of Amsterdam....
 (Oil on Canvas, 1885), of Dutch land peasants, was indirectly inspired by the bad conditions for miners and families in the Borinage, but was not painted there.

Borinage is often considered the western end of the sillon industriel
Sillon industriel

The Wallonian sillon industriel or dorsale wallonne was an area of roughly 1000 km? running across Belgium from Dour, in Borinage, in the west, to Verviers in the east....
, the former industrial backbone of Wallonia
Wallonia

Wallonia is the Francophone southern part of Belgium. This region makes up about 31% of the Belgian population.Since 1970, Wallonia has approximately coincided with the territory of the Walloon Region, which is a federated component of the Belgian state and provides a government and a parliament to both Wallonia and the smaller German-s...
, home to about two-thirds of Wallonia's population. The listed mine complex of Grand Hornu
Grand Hornu

Grand-Hornu is an old industrial mining complex in Hornu in the municipality of Boussu. It was built by Henri De Gorge between 1810 and 1830. It is a unique example of functional town-planning....
 is a witness of the region's history. Since the last mines closed in the 1960s the Borinage has had the highest unemployment ratio of Belgium.

Birthplace of Jacques Stoquart, a comic writer. Among others he wrote for "Jan Kordaat", "Stany Derval", "Steven Severijn" ...